Sorties and Sentients
by The Guarding Dark
Summary: Falling asleep in your dorm room bed. And waking up an unparallelled class of killer in a world you thought merely a fantasy. Is what many would call "inconvenient". But Aaron isn't one to let odd situations get to him. And hey, at least his friends are here too.
1. Wake up Tenno

The first thing he feels is a rapidly diminishing chill. Followed briefly by the sensation of falling. And then a dulled sensation of pain as he hits the ground.

He is only barely cognizant of the world around him. Harsh guttural voices sound out all around him. One closer than all the others. It reaches toward him, holding something. And with instincts he can't quite place as his own. His own hand snakes out, far faster than he thought he was capable of. And grips their wrist in a grasp like iron.

There is a moment of brief resistance, the snap crackle and pop of bones being pulverised. And a shriek of pain.

The unidentified assailant scrambles back, clutching the ruined remnant of its now useless hand. Which gives him the time he needs to stagger upright and finally get his bearings. He sees shapes he recognizes without even trying.

Grineer, and a lot of them. He wonders briefly if some species of prank is being played on him. Briefly indeed. For in the next moment his head becomes the host of a splitting headache. As if Lech Kril himself had used it as an anvil.

A confused tangle of thoughts and memories from a life that he knows is not his own. One moment he is a college student, The next a vulnerable child aboard a stranded vessel slowly losing its mind to the Void. Then he's relaxing on his couch, controller in hand on a saturday morning. Next he and his fellow Tenno train with the blade under the watchful supervision of their Dax mentor. Dates with a highschool sweetheart. The battlefields of the old war, Pushing the sentients back inch by bloodsoaked inch. The Massacre of the golden lords. The fall of the empire he had once fought tooth and nail to save. The beginning of the dream.

Adult, child, student, Soldier, Man.

Tenno.

All were separate and yet also one.

He was the student and devoted boyfriend Aaron, He was the dutiful and reserved Tenno, Tristan. The memories settle, the pain begins to pass. And a new person stands to regard the situation at hand.

The grineer as one scared soldier recoil. None daring to break the silence that follows.

The Tenno, pauses for the briefest of moments. And then raises his hands.

"Condemn."

There is the sound of clanking chains and shrieks of surprise and pain as the grineer are trapped and impaled by chains of voidborne shadow. And the Tenno walks calmly over to one of the newly created corpses, relieving it of its sidearm. A battered and barely functional Kraken. Far from ideal. But it would serve his intended purpose.

He strides over to where Captain Vor is bent over double, still clutching his destroyed appendage and whimpering.

Aaron wasted no time in kicking the grineer captain onto his back. And putting the Kraken to his temple, he briefly screams. Perhaps a plea for mercy. And then the Kraken fires, leaving a steaming hole in Vors head.

Better to nip that particular problem in the bud. He thought.

As he discards the handcannon. There is a brief crackle of static as a transmission pings off his comms.

"Tenno, there was interference, I could not contact you. Are you well?"

Ah, The Lotus. He had been wondering when he would hear from her.

"As well as I can be, I suppose. Had a grineer welcoming party."

The Lotus seemed to balk at this.

"Grineer?! Tenno, you must flee, Caption Vor may be-!"

"Already taken care of."

She paused.

"...Are you certain?"

She asked, after a moment of hesitation. He nudges the corpse with a foot.

"Most of his brain is in chunks on the ground. So yeah, I'm certain."

The Lotus seemed to take the situation in stride. And turned the conversation to different matters.

"And what of the Grineer he brought with him?"

"Oh, they're dead."

He glanced around the courtyard, corpses strewn around in a macabre tapestry of rent limbs and gleaming crimson puddles of spilt viscera.

"Very, very dead."

The Lotus, who again seemed surprised at this intelligence. Settled for simply nodding her understanding.

"Very well, are you armed? You have killed this first group, but there are no doubt more to follow once this one does not report back."

He shook his head.

"Working on that, don't exactly have a good pick of choices right now."

She sighed.

"Very well, do what you can with what is available to you. I will apprise your cephalon of the current situation. With any luck your Orbiter will be here soon and you will have access to your full armory."

Aaron thought for a moment before speaking.

"Actually, hold off on that for now. The grineer might have air defenses in the area, I'd rather not risk it."

He remembered enough from Vor's prize to know that the Grineer destroyed the first Orbiter The Lotus sent. And he would rather not risk losing his supply of Weapons and warframes. Replacing them after the time he had spent collecting and earning them would be an absolute chore.

"Very well, I will hold off for now, contact me when you feel it appropriate."

He nodded.

"Copy that, keep in touch boss."

* * *

The Grineer camp was about as ramshackle as one might expect. But then the grineer had never been known for their architectural prowess.

Aaron surveyed the base from a perch nestled in the boughs of a tree that towered a few hundred meters above it. Looking steadily through the scope of a Vulkar he had pilfered from an ironically inattentive Ballista. The anti-air emplacement sat solidly in the middle of the camp. It's massive barrel swiveling to and fro as it searched the skies above for targets of opportunity. It would hardly be a challenge to clear the place out, it was obvious that whoever was in charge had not expected any major trouble. The troopers were lax and lazy in their patrols. And those that couldn't even be bothered to move at all could be seen actively dozing. It honestly was a little unfair. Aaron smirked.

Just the way he liked it.

He sighted his first target, a Heavy gunner leaning placidly against the side of a stack of storage crates. The Vulkar was rather basic even by the standards of grineer weaponry. It used a high caliber round pushed by a frankly unsafe amount of accelerant to smash straight through enemy defenses. Killing the target, and often whatever or whoever happened to be standing behind them as well. Because of this design however, the recoil, even in the hands of a warframe, was no joke. He would have honestly preferred his Vectis, but as he pulled the trigger and watched the Gunners head turn into something the color and consistency of chunky salsa, he had to admit that there was something to be said for the Vulkar nonetheless.

The Shot rang out over the small valley, and indolent grineer forms below sprang if not into action, then at least slightly more urgent plodding. He sighted another target, a Bombard. A scant few moments to properly acquire a shot. And then everything above the bombards neck was a fine red mist. He took two more shots before finally deciding to move. He didn't think any of them were smart enough to determine were he was based on where the shots had come from. But he wasn't in a mood to risk it.

The remaining grineer scurried in a frightened confused panic. Picking off the largest, and therefore highest ranking among them. Had broken down whatever discipline had existed to begin with. He saw no more reason to employ subtlety. And leapt from his current perch, landing in the middle of the confused incoherent press of frightened grineer bodies.

"Hey boys! Beautiful weather we're having huh?"

The group as one grineer spun around. Confused expressions on more then one uncovered face. The grineer thought for a moment, stopped thinking. And then started shooting. The Tenno exploded into motion, lashing out with a brutal series of chops and kicks that killed anything standing near him. He waded through the mass of bodies, breaking limbs, snapping necks and crushing windpipes. Leaving broken grineer bodies in his wake, Finally it was down to a scorpion. Despite the crowd of corpses surrounding him, she still rushed him, blade in hand.

She was either incredibly brave, or terminally stupid.

He rushed behind her and in short order wrenched her neck at an angle it was never meant to bend to. She slumped bonelessly to the ground, twitching with the final spasms of the suddenly killed.

Yeah, probably that second one.

He slowly let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. And stretched before turning to the now motionless Anti-Air gun. There was no-one to crew the thing. He had made certain of that. But he didn't want to risk any stragglers he might have missed getting any bright ideas.

He searched the camp, combing through the barracks until-

He swung open the door to the supply shed, and smirked as he saw several crates of detonite inside. Normally the grineer used it as the accelerant for their weapons, as well as the main component of their explosive weapons. It was potent stuff, and volatile as all hell. Just what he needed.

It was the work of a few minutes to jury rig a bomb around the guns main power source, detonite bundles connected by bits of wire commandeered from nearby control consoles. And all connected to a radio transmitter.

He checked over everything again. And then walked calmly out of the control room and through the camp. Before traversing one of the trees that towered above the camp some distance away, he kicked back. Smiled. And then thumbed the detonator.

Nothing happened.

He groaned, this always happened when he tried to build stuff from scratch. Honestly, it was a pain in the ass. What had he mis-?!

His thoughts came to a screeching halt as the bomb detonated. Instantly the gun and the tower it was attached to went up in an enormous fireball. The explosion spread outwards, consuming everything in its path and incinerating the camp. The remainder of the blast began to dissipate. Before curling upwards into the small but unmistakable shape of a mushroom cloud.

There was almost nothing left of the grineer encampment. Whatever the blast hadn't Turned to ash. Had been melted and warped into unrecognizable slag. Aaron smiled, stood up, and reveled in the feeling of a job well done.

No reason to delay any further then. He pinged The Lotus on comms. And waited as it went through.

"Tenno, what do you have to report?"

He glanced at the newly created crater.

"I'm about done here boss. The grineer are dead and the AA gun is permanently out of commission."

"Understood, I will inform your Cephalon, mark a suitable landing zone and then prep for extraction. Well done Tenno, I will contact you later."

He nodded.

"Copy that."

He set a waypoint in the middle of the ruined grineer camp. And waited a few minutes until the familiar shape of a Liset, his Liset. Swooped rapidly into view from the upper Atmosphere. Anti grav engines swiveling to arrest the orbiters momentum as it hovered to a stop over the LZ. It was exactly as he remembered it. In Both the lives he had now lived. Black base paint job, orange and white decals. And metallic components colored a Shining polished rose gold. The boarding pod rotated into place. And he eagerly leapt into it. Magnetic clamps holding him in place as the Orbiter began to pull away from the surface. Thrusters throttling up as the ship tore through the upper atmosphere and into low orbit.

* * *

He exited the boarding pod and stepped into the ship proper. Looking around the ships interior Memories from two perspectives Intersecting and occasionally clashing as the two lives he had lived recalled different versions of the same things.

The ship was definitely bigger on the inside. Though it was hard to tell how, probably some sort of Orokin space magic bullshit. As he walked through the ship and to the bridge. He suddenly heard a voice sound out.

_"I had hardly dared to believe but-. Operator, Is that you?!"_

He stopped.

That wasn't Ordis. The voice was female for one, sounding remarkably similar to Judi Dench of all people. He raised his head to respond. Tristan's memories providing her name.

"Yeah Minerva, it's me."

The Cephalon let out a happy little chime.

_"Oh thank the stars! When I heard you had been awoken in the middle of a grineer encampment I feared the worst. But it is good to see time has not dulled your skills."_

Aaron shook his head.

"How long have I been-"

He searched briefly for an appropriate word.

"Away?"

Minerva let out a rather displeased sounding hum before responding.

"500 years, give or take a few decades. You kept me waiting for a rather long time."

It was impossible to miss the reproach in her voice. And it was particularly incisive when spoken in the voice of Judi Dench. Aaron cringed as he responded.

"Sorry Min, it wasn't by choice."

Almost instantly she was happy again.

"Well, I suppose it's alright. So long as you promise not to do it again. You'll be pleased to know that I had something to keep me occupied while you were away. Unlike a few others, Ordis especially. Went quite mad from what I heard. Poor dear, they still haven't found his operator."

Aaron filed that particular tidbit of information in the "investigate" part of his brain and shuffled it away for later. If Ordis existed that meant THE Tenno existed here. And if that was the case then he would endeavour to find out his exact whereabouts. So he would know exactly where not to be in the future.

Space magic, immortality, and superpowered metal skinned flesh golems were certainly nice. But Aaron had no intention of getting involved in anything paradigm shifting. Especially if it involved the Sentients.With any luck, he could stand back and let that problem solve itself.

He turned and stepped down the ramp and into the main chamber.

"What's the status of the Foundry and Armory?"

He stepped over to the arsenal and looked through his available inventory. Everything exactly as he had left it. His Loadout exactly as he liked it. And all his warframes accounted for.

"All weapons and blueprints accounted for operator."

He nodded. If his in game arsenal was available to him. That meant he was probably suffering from an acute Overlord style case of Isekaitis.

He wondered for a moment if that meant his quest progress had carried through as well. Could he use transference? Or was the real him still somewhere on Lua? Well he wouldn't know until he tried.

He focused on the void, and his place within it. Attempting to separate his consciousness from that of his warframe. There was a strong pulling sensation. A bright flash of blue green light. And then he was suddenly nowhere near as physically powerful as he felt a few moments ago. He slumped to the floor In his true body. Struggling to rise as arms long weakened from disuse fought to support his weight.

He breathed heavily, well that answered THAT question. He could use transference, but his body in this form was in no fit state to fight. It would probably be several weeks, if not months. Of physical therapy before this body was back in fighting trim. As he struggled to rise on atrophied legs. He was suddenly being supported by strong steady hands. And turned to see that his frame had moved to help him rise. Much to Aaron's shock.

So, Stallord was right. Umbra wasn't as unique as some thought.

As he finally settled on shaky feet his mind was suddenly assaulted by a storm of different emotions and sensations.

_Fearconcernangerwhatwereyouthinking!?Dontscaremelikethat!_

He turned and realized they were coming from his frame. There was no expression to be seen in the faceplate. But he could still feel a strong sense of haughty reproach.

"Sorry, Harrow."

Aaron said, smiling.

"Just wanted to try something out."

_Understanding.Tellmenexttime._

Cephalons could not splutter per se. But Minerva was making her best attempt.

_"Operator, what on earth?! How are you doing that? You are separated from the somatic link and yet I read your transference as stronger than ever! How on earth are you doing this?"_

Aaron mentally scrambled for an explanation. And he ran the most obvious (and honest) one through his mind first.

_"Well you see Minerva, I am in fact now the result of the binding of two seperate people into one shared identity, one the tenno you know. And the other an overworked overstressed college student who experienced your reality as a piece of interactive entertainment."_

He thought this over, and wisely decided to just play it safe.

"500 Years alone with nothing but your thoughts and you tend to learn a few things."

He said, by way of explanation. It was a load of vague bullshit, but it was also void related Tenno bullshit. Which meant that Minerva would probably (hopefully) just accept it at face value.

_"I ... see."_

She finally said, her tone bemused but thankfully not skeptical.

_"Shall I inform the Lotus? She may wish to know of this new ability."_

Aaron balked.

"NO!"

He barked, perhaps a little louder than he had meant to. He wasn't sure how the Lotus would respond to Him being outside the assumed safety of his transference cradle on Lua. Would she accept it? Would she attempt to convince him to return to Lua? Would she wrap him in cotton batting and keep him fed on a steady diet of chicken noodle soup and motherly smothering?

That last one was probably less likely than the others. But it sent a shiver down his spine nonetheless.

"I … wouldn't want her to worry."

He said. By way of explanation.

_"I am … not certain that this is the best course of action. But I shall trust your judgement operator."_

"Thank you Min, that's all I ask.'

I glanced up as I heard an alert chime from the bridge.

_"Operator, you appear to have received a message. Though I do not recognize the ID code. The signal carries a Tenno IFF tag. Shall I forward the transmission?"_

Tenno IFF? That meant One of two things. Either the Lotus had decided to contact him sooner than he expected. Or the other Tenno wanted to get a feel for the new guy. Either way there was no point in sitting here with his thumb up his ass looking at it. He carefully pressed the command to answer the transmission.

"H-hello?! Switch are you there?!"

He recognized that voice.

"Holy shi-, Tree, Is that you?!"

TreesMinion, he had been the newest member of Aaron's clan before... This. He hadn't known his exact age when he'd invited him to the clan. But he'd seemed pretty young. And he'd reckoned that the kid probably needed a little help getting started.

"Uh, yeah I'm kind of in a bad spot right now. I … woke up, In this weird Corpus place and This weird looking guy tried to put something on me. Said something about dissecting me. I got away but now they're looking for me and I don't know what to do and I'm scared and I-!"

He cut him off before the kid could ramble any further.

"Alright, Tree. Do you know where you are?"

"N-no."

Aaron looked up.

"Minerva, can you tell me where this is coming from?"

Minerva hummed for a few moments before responding.

_"Signal is spotty, operator. But the signal appears to originate from Jupiter."_

Jupiter….

Corpus….

Dissecting Tenno….

Shit, Alad V was gunning for a member of his clan. He collected his thoughts before speaking again. Using the influence of Tristan's memories to make himself sound a great deal more confident and self assured then he really was.

"Ok kid, listen. You're in A LOT of danger right now, whatever you do, stay put. And don't do anything stupid. Don't get seen. I'm coming, just hold tight."

He cut the transmission and looked back up to address Minerva again.

"Min, get an exact location for that transmission. Then get us to Jupiter."

She chimed happily.

_"Understood operator, oh it's good to have you back!"_

He focused for a moment before feeling a pulling sensation. And Like that, he was back in his warframe. He felt a wave of pleasure flow through the link as Harrow mentally voiced his pleasure at their rejoining of mind and body. A pleasure Aaron fully shared, It was an odd experience. To be sure, but he had never felt so powerful.

As he checked over his loadout for what would no doubt be a rescue mission. He reflected on the situation. So, If someone from his world was here. Then that Implied that there might be others. Though if that was true, then how many would it be? A few dozen? Hundreds? Thousands? How would the Origin System respond to a sudden influx of super powered individuals with wildly varied ideals, morals, and goals? What would change, and how drastically?

The Tenno of lore were almost uniformly noblebright. Defenders of the innocent, bringers of justice. All that jazz. But what would it mean for the Origin system if some Tenno just didn't give a shit? For his part, Aaron believed strongly that having the means to affect positive change in the lives of others precluded any choice in the matter. With power like the kind he now possessed. Doing all he could to help others was the only real choice. Besides, what else was he going to do?

But he knew that others would not share his view of things. Many simply wouldn't care. Perhaps just seeing it all as a game. Others would want nothing to do with this world, and would devote all their time to returning to their original one. He smirked, It would probably be a shock to the system of many. To realize that their incorruptible defenders where just as capable of being assholes as anyone else.

Questions that would be answered in time, he knew. But it was better to keep focused on the here and now. Tree wasn't any closer to being rescued while he stood here speculating. He strode onto the bridge and kneeled in front of the starmap. As he began to punch in the commands that would catapult his liset through the rail network to Jupiter. Minerva chose that moment to speak.

_"Operator, while I understand our current objective is quite urgent. I feel it necessary to inform you we are receiving another communication, Tenno IFF, ID code marks it priority one."_

Aaron sighed, before stopping his Inputs and opening the communications hub.

"Put it up."

He said.Minerva complied, And a few moments moments later Aaron was listening to yet another familiar Voice.

"Hey uh- Longshot but … Aaron is that you?"

Aaron let out an explosive breath and only just stopped himself from grinning like an Idiot.

"Brad?! Shit man, it's good to hear your voice!"

Brad, or Brad the dad as he was affectionately known. Was a middle aged Rhino main Aaron had met when he had first started playing. HIs friendly and gregarious nature meant they became fast friends. And it wasn't long at all until they were on a first name basis and phone numbers were exchanged. Brad had been one of the first people to join Aaron's clan. Even abandoning his then current (and much larger) clan to do so. His friendly nature had attracted more than a few new members. And Aaron and the rest of the clan had always known him to be steadfast, trustworthy, and reliable. If Brad was here, then that was a very good thing. For one it meant he might not have to rescue Tree alone. And for another, It would just be good to have him around, the man was sunshine personified.

"Likewise man, You would not believe the day I've had."

Aaron smirked.

"I can imagine. I've got a story of my own."

"You can tell me in person. I'm at Vesper Relay. We should meet up. Compare notes and all that."

Aaron stopped to consider, it was out of the way of his route. That was for certain, and Tree might have already been on borrowed time. But it would be an enormous help If he could convince Brad to help him.

"Alright, hang tight I'll see you there."

* * *


	2. Tenno tea-time talks

_"Making final approach to Vesper relay now, operator."_

Aaron straightened out of his meditative stance. And carefully looked through the viewing pane as the station quickly grew to encompass almost his entire view. Clean white hull plating blocking out the vast inky blackness of space.

_"Docking clearance confirmed. Welcome to Vesper Relay."_

Minerva said, as Aaron stepped into the Boarding pod. Feeling it as the Liset oriented itself into the docking clamp. The boarding pod rotated outward. And Aaron stepped out onto the landing bay.

Vesper relay was a busy hub of activity, Tenno and otherwise. Lisets shared docking space next to Solaris freighters. And even a few grineer crew-ships painted haphazardly in Steel Meridian colors. People Scurried to and fro across the available floor space, though regardless of how busy it was, when a Tenno walked past, those around them made an effort to make a hole.

It was rather uncomfortable for the thoroughly introverted Aaron to be so solidly at the center of so much attention, He wished more then anything to simply be another face in the crowd. But every pair of eyes seemed to pass over him. And he didn't quite know what was worse. The looks of wariness and fear on more then a few faces. Or the looks of frankly ridiculous hero worship on many others. He stepped through the security checkpoint without anyone even so much as speaking to him. Despite the rather obvious Skiajati hanging from his waist. Perhaps the guards simply chose to bear the risk rather then potentially draw the ire of a Tenno.

Aarons stepped into the relays interior chambers and stopped to look around, the game had for the most part, done justice to the design and size of the relays. But they had utterly failed to capture the sheer number of people. People Walking, people talking, people sitting, people running, people trading, people everywhere, doing everything. It was overwhelming to be in the center of such a press of human bodies. And even more so to have every single one of them take at least a few moments from what they were doing to look at him.

Aaron shook his head and did his best to ignore the myriad eyes he could feel boring a hole into his armored back. He looked around, where the hell had Brad said he'd be?

"AARON! HEY, AARON!"

Ah, there he was.

Aaron turned around to see the Rhino main striding toward him. A path being cleared for him by his sheer presence alone. Almost 7 feet of artificial technocyte muscle and thick armor plating. Which made for an almost terrifying Image as he walked toward Aaron with his characteristic friendly gait. Aaron imagined it might be similar to how one might feel being approached for a hug by a friendly giant teddy bear. Not threatening per se, but overwhelming nonetheless. Brad wrapped his comparatively smaller frame in a bone crushing (did warframes have bones?) hug. It was a few moments before Aaron was finally released. He huffed.

"Do you HAVE to do that every time we meet in person?"

Aaron got the distinct impression that if he could see Brad's face he would be grinning like an idiot.

"Well yeah! How else are you gonna know its me?"

Aaron laughed.

"Well I suppose you got that right. You wanna find somewhere to sit? You said you wanted to talk right?"

Brad nodded. And jerked his thumb toward a small set of comfortable looking cushions surrounding a quaint tea shop. Evidently Brad was already known, because when he was seen approaching. The little old woman manning the counter beamed.

"Ah, Tenno! Good to have you back! And is this your-?"

She turned to look at him and froze. A thoroughly unsettled expression passing over her face before she again composed herself.

"F-friend?"

A little nonplussed by the woman's reaction. Aaron simply chose to nod in affirmation. Brad, being the impeccable social butterfly he was. Simply sashayed (how did you sashay in a body that big?!) to the counter.

"Yeah, sorry about my pal."

He said genially.

"He tends to have that effect on people."

The woman seemed to take the situation in stride. Which Aaron was thankful for. And simply led them to an extremely plush looking pair of cushions. Both set on either side of a circular carven wooden table. They sat down and she handed them two small paper menus that had probably seen better days.

"Just yell when you're ready to order."

She said kindly before making her way back to the front counter.

"What effect?"

Aaron asked, looking down at the menu and not recognizing any of the types of tea being sold. Brad took a moment before responding, evidently coming to his own conclusions about what he wanted to order.

"Your frame man."

He replied.

"Harrow's…. Kinda creepy."

Aaron balked, that was certainly news to him.

"What?! No it isn't!"

Brad put up a defensive pair of hands, Chuckling.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger. I'm just calling it as I see it, but if it makes you feel any better. They all seem a little afraid of us. You think it's the whole no faces thing?"

That served to remind Aaron of one of the reasons he was there to begin with.

"Speaking of…. Us."

He said. His voice hesitant.

"How many of Us are there?"

Brad stopped at this, collecting his thoughts before he responded.

"I only know a little more than you do honestly."

He said.

"I'm pretty sure I woke up a little before you did. From what others have told me. We all ended up here the same day that-."

"The New War dropped."

Brad nodded.

"All the stories start the same. They boot up whatever they were playing on, download the update. Try to start the game. And then everything goes dark. Next thing they know. They're waking up in a cryopod. Wearing a warframe. And surrounded by something that usually tries to kill them."

Aaron took a moment to absorb this information.

"And it's reasonable to assume the majority of the player base would be playing when the update dropped."

Brad nooded.

"Yep, it's a mess."

Aaron shifted.

"Speaking of messes."

He said.

"That's actually part of the reason I'm here."

Brad motioned for him to continue.

"You know that kid we recently recruited? TreesMinion? A little before you got in touch, He contacted me, sounded like he was In a world of trouble."

Brad looked up.

"When you say a world of trouble…."

"It sounded like Alad V was gunning for him."

Brad settled back into his cushions. Body language pensive.

"Well, Shit."

Aaron raised a placating hand.

"If you don't want to help I get it. I could definitely use the help but If you aren't up for it then-."

Brad upstarted suddenly, abruptly all energy as he rose to his impressive full height.

"Are you kidding?"

He roared.

"If one of our newbies needs a hand then what the hell are we just sitting here talking for?!"

He was Mr Rogers in a technocyte shell Honestly. Brad strode over to the counter where the old woman sat looking down at a small tablet.

"Check please!"

The woman looked up at him, confused.

"You… Haven't ordered anything yet."

Brad suddenly seemed to deflate as he remembered this.

"Oh, right…."

He murmured. Though his sudden turn of mood lasted exactly as long as one might expect. And he was all volume and confidence again within no time at all.

"Alright, One Jasmine Tea to go please!"

Aaron and Brad stood inside Aarons orbiter. A useful projection of the Jovian system suspended in front of them. Separate asteroids and moons hanging in loose bands around the Projection of the titanic gas giant. Names floating next to them. Brad huffed.

"So, why are we here?"

Aaron would've rolled his eyes if they were visible.

"Because we need a plan of attack."

Again Brad scoffed.

"What for? We're Tenno, just bust down the front door and get him out of there."

Aaron sighed wearily.

"Well, as you can see."

Aaron said, gesturing to the projection.

"The Jovian System is enormous. It plays host to more than 70 Natural satellites and measures Half an AU across. And the Corpus control almost all of it. We could spend from now until next year searching and would probably never find Tree. There's just too much ground to cover."

Reluctantly Brad nodded in acquiescence.

"Alright, so where do we start?"

Aaron waved a hand and a new graphical overlay settled over the projection.

"We raid a corpus ship, these are the most up to date patrol routes we have. We pick a target. Infiltrate the ship and raid its data vault. With any luck we can get our hands on the reports pertaining to prisoner transfers. The only problem is picking a target."

Brad gestured.

"How about this one? It goes pretty far out of the way of the others. If we end up tripping any alarms it'll be awhile before anyone responds to a distress call."

Aaron nodded.

"Good call. Min, mark it on navigation."

Minerva chimed her understanding.

"Of course Operator, would you like to apprise The Lotus of the situation?"

Aaron thought for a moment, and then nodded his assent.

"Yeah, Send a report. If things go pear shaped It might be smart to have some incoming backup."

"Understood."

Brad nodded, and pumped his fist in excitement.

"Alright! Let's go rescue our clanmate!"

The two Lisets lifted from their docking clamps. Antigrav thrusters humming as the the two ships blasted away from the relay.


End file.
